
By Larry Moko
It was an historic accomplishment for Milton's St. Francis Xavier Knights.
On the weekend, that high school basketball team travelled to the St. Thomas More gym and, for the first time in its history, captured the 46th-annual Father Kennedy Memorial junior boys' invitational tournament.
En route to the championship of the eight-team, two-day, All-Ontario Catholic event, St. Francis Xavier had to face three Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league opponents -- the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals, the St. Thomas More Knights and the Cathedral Gaels.
The final saw Xavier top Cathedral, 67-52.
"To come to Hamilton and beat three top Catholic teams is something our program has never done before," Sir Francis Xavier coach Robbie Nacevicius said. "We played really well this weekend. I'm proud of the guys. They executed."
St. Francis Xavier was originally known as Jean Vanier until about five years ago when the school's name was changed. The building has been in place since 2013.
The Knights are currently 8-0 in Halton County Catholic league play.
"We only have four Grade 10s on the team," Nacevicius added. "Everybody else is in Grade 9. And we played a little shorthanded this weekend because three of our kids are in Pennsylvania for some sort of tournament."
Xavier, which never trailed against the Gaels, pulled away in the third quarter when Jacob Tan scored nine of his 10 points on consecutive and unanswered three-point shots.
The Knights also got 20 points by tournament MVP selection J.J. Smith (winner of the Bert Carrigan Memorial Trophy) and 11 by Darius Miller.
In his first two games Friday, Smith finished with 21 points in each. Said Nacevicius: "J.J. has really come around since the beginning of the season. He's doing it at both ends of the floor -- blocking shots on defence and finishing at the rim offensively. We've also had a great supporting cast."
The Milton school's earlier wins were 78-46 over Newman and 76-42 over More.
Cathedral rallied briefly in the fourth quarter against Xavier when Grade 9 student Quinton O'Connor tossed in 16 of his game-high 33 points.
Moses Emmanuel and Amos Wleh were the other top scorers for the Gaels with nine and eight points, respectively.
"He's a beast in every single aspect," Cathedral coach Danielle Pinto said of O'Connor, who scored 27 and 24 points in earlier victories over the Oakville's Holy Trinity Titans (75-53) and Toronto's St. Michael's College Raiders (61-48).
"If we need him to rebound he's there, if we need him to get to the rim, he's there. And if we need him to make shots, he's there."
O'Connor and Wleh were also chosen to the First All-Star team along with Jayden Pearce of More, Andrew Leukam of St. Francis Xavier and Jayden Dulce-Williams of St. Mike's.
The Defensive Player of the Tournament was Tariq Eddine of Xavier.
The Second All-Star team was comprised of: Jesse Boreyko, Grimsby Blessed Trinity; Chase Thomas-Wilson, Oakville Holy Trinity; Antonio Hinds, St. Catharines St. Francis; Matteo Fuca and Malcolm Detouche, Newman.
The Cardinals of Newman took the consolation title with a 71-66 win in the final over Holy Trinity. Detouche paced the attack with 15 points, while Jaxson Iaquinto had 13 and Christian Chiodo chipped in with 11. Fuca and Michael Finelli added 10 apiece.
Earlier, after its opening loss to Xavier, Newman topped the St. Francis Phoenix, 74-42.
The host team from More opened with a 70-61 decision over the Phoenix.
"This was a very competitive tournament," the Cathedral coach said. "I truly believe that our team is one of the top teams in Ontario. We have everything we need from rebounding to the guards. We play fast-paced, high level basketball."
The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic junior league begins playoffs this week. Currently, the leaders in the tightly-bunched standings are Cathedral (11-2), Newman (10-3), More (10-3) and Tonnos (10-3).
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photo on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page.



